Analyzing the Mass Shooting Data retrieved from http://www.shootingtracker.com/, a total of 340 shootings occured across the country in the given year, with a total of 373 lives lost and 1347 injured. The city that was most impacted by mass shootings (by measuring the total number of deaths and injuries within the city) is Chicago, with 135 reported victims (both dead or injured). The state with the most number of victims killed is California, with 50 victims reported dead. The state with the most number of victims wounded is Illinois, with 150 victims reported injured.
Sorts the whole dataset and groups it by states where mass shootings occured in the given year, providing a brief summary about the number of deaths, injuries, and total victims.
state Deaths Injuries Total
1 Alabama 12 55 67
2 Arizona 4 5 9
3 Arkansas 7 17 24
4 California 50 136 186
5 Colorado 9 27 36
6 Connecticut 0 8 8
7 Delaware 5 0 5
8 District of Columbia 2 23 25
9 Florida 48 132 180
10 Georgia 3 33 36
11 Illinois 21 150 171
12 Indiana 10 27 37
13 Kansas 1 11 12
14 Kentucky 7 25 32
15 Louisiana 15 50 65
16 Maryland 13 31 44
17 Massachusetts 0 4 4
18 Michigan 10 28 38
19 Minnesota 1 14 15
20 Mississippi 1 17 18
21 Missouri 12 52 64
22 Nebraska 1 16 17
23 Nevada 3 15 18
24 New Jersey 4 54 58
25 New Mexico 5 4 9
26 New York 5 53 58
27 North Carolina 14 37 51
28 Ohio 13 46 59
29 Oklahoma 2 19 21
30 Pennsylvania 35 63 98
31 South Carolina 5 19 24
32 Tennessee 19 68 87
33 Texas 29 62 91
34 Utah 0 4 4
35 Virginia 2 17 19
36 Washington 4 9 13
37 Wisconsin 1 16 17Out of the summary table, numerous mass shootings occured in 37 different states in 2018. It is easy to spot 3 extreme values in Total (impacted victims exceeds 100), with states California, Florida, and Illinois.
I decided to do some research on the “Thousand Oaks” incident that happened in California located at 99 Rolling Oaks Dr on November 7, 2018. There was a total number of 15 victims impacted from this incident, with 13 reported dead and 2 reported injured. According to The New York Times, “The shooting inside the bar, a favorite local hangout for 25 years that hosted line-dancing lessons and allowed students in starting at 18, and where on Wednesday night several college women were celebrating their 21st birthdays, began around 11 p.m. Witnesses described sudden chaos. Among the estimated 130 to 180 people at the bar were five off-duty police officers, enjoying the night like the other partyers. As patrons dove for cover, the sounds of glass shattering and gunshots rang out in the cavernous bar. The gunman prowled the emptying dance floor, shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground”. And as USA Today stated, “The incident was also the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in 2018 since 17 classmates and teachers were gunned down at a Parkland, Florida, school on Valentine’s Day”.
SOURCES
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/us/shooting-california-thousand-oaks.html
The purpose of including a map is to provide a better visual representation of where the mass shootings occured on the map accross the country in the given year.
From the interactive map, there were more mass shootings that happened on the East side of America in 2018. There were states that did not have any mass shootings reported at all in 2018 including Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and more, which a lot of these states are located on North side of America.
Question: Which month in the given year has mass shootings that involved most victims?
I chose to use a bar chart to present my findings collected from the data because it is clear that my question can be easily answered with a bar chart, where most victims were affected by mass shootings happened in June 2018, with a total of 257 victims. It is also pretty easy to see that there tends to be more victims involved in mass shootings in 2018 during the summertime (Jun - Sep), as those 4 months all had more numbers of victims impacted from mass shootings.